Thursday, July 26, 2012

Why Steve Jobs Quit Going to Church

In his biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson explains that as a young boy Jobs went to Lutheran church most Sundays but that this came to end when he was thirteen. Here's why:

In July 1968Life magazine published a shocking cover showing a pair of starving children in Biafra.

Jobs took it to Sunday school and confronted the church's pastor.

"If I raise my finger, will God know which one I'm going to raise before I do it?"

The pastor answered, "Yes, God knows everything."

Jobs then pulled out theLifecover and asked, "Well, does God know about this and what's going to happen to those children?"

"Steve, I know you don't understand, but yes, God knows about that."

Jobs announced that he didn't want to have anything to do with worshiping such a God, and he never went back to church.

This is certainly one way to deal with the claim of an all-powerful God and the existence of evil. It displays an early knack for presenting information. And because of this latter especially it's probably exactly what you'd expect from a young Steve Jobs.

So did Steve Jobs die an atheist?

I think that depends on whom you ask. One thing's for certain, though: he lived his life on the premise that he alone was responsible for it. He never prayed to Buddha or Jesus for an iPod let alone an iPad. He simply got to work making and remaking them--and having fun all the while.